Multi-functional weight training equipment which enables multiple exercise routines in various positions on a single machine has been designed in the past. Exercise devices that have been prevalent in recent years, commonly known as functional trainers, use adjustable components in order to create new positions for exercise. Thanks to their ability to transform themselves into different configurations, they can mimic most of the traditional multi-station machines and free weights with just a few adjustments. There are many types of functional trainers on the market today, and they use several different methods for adjusting their components. Most of them use adjustable arms, sliding carriages with pulleys or multiple pulleys mounted at different locations on the machine. Also, some of them can be used with the workout bench. The number of exercises that can be performed on particular machine depends on how many different configurations it can be transformed to. More configurations provide more exercise options for the user. The goal is to create as many new positions for exercise as possible with the use of a single machine. Recently there have been some attempts to incorporate the use of functional trainers with workout benches. This is a very desirable combination because it provides additional exercise options and with support of the bench, higher resistance can be used. There is a big demand for such versatile equipment, especially in the fast growing market of home gym fitness.
Unfortunately, the majority of these devices are large, cumbersome and difficult to handle. Some of them have limitations on positions available for exercise, and others have complicated and time consuming adjustments. Most of them lack versatility and are used only for strength exercises with one mode of resistance. Machines that combine a stationary bench with a functional trainer have limitations because the presence of the bench prohibits many exercises.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,323, Nordic Track® 360° Home Gym, and Nordic Track® PT3 Trainer represent a group of functional trainers that use similar methods of adjusting their components to create new positions for exercise. They all use very long and stationary mounted adjustable arms that can rotate 180 degrees about a generally horizontal axis to different locked positions. These are adjusted such that their ends are very close together at the top and bottom of their arcs (arms in vertical position) and are widely spread when the arms are in the middle of their arcs (arms in horizontal position). The shortcoming of the described method of adjustment is that there are limitations on the positions that their arms can take. More specifically they are not suitable for exercises that require the ends of the arms to be relatively close together and at about waist height of the exerciser (such as a typical rowing movement). Also, changing the height of the arms requires adjustments at two locations. Arms are very long (in order to provide for high and low pulley exercises) and awkward to handle. With the arms in a vertical position, there is not enough room in front of the machine for exercises that require pure vertical resistance (lat pull down, military press, squat) and user have to adjust their body position for these particular exercises, applying a vertical and an unnecessary horizontal force.
A different method for creating new positions for exercise is used in exercise machines presented in United States Patent Application Publication Numbers US 2003/0017918 A1 and US 2002/0013200 A1 (Known as Cybex FT360S) and commercially available Northern Lights Chilcat Cable Motion Trainer, Vectra VFT 100, Tuff Stuff MFT-700 and Paramount Functional Trainers Models PFT-200 and FT-150. With this method of adjusting the arms, narrow and wide grips at different heights are available, which greatly increases number of possible positions for exercise. Arms can rotate about a generally horizontal and vertical axis to different locked positions such that their ends move in three dimensional manners. Because of that the users are forced to move closer or further away from the machine for different exercises. For example, for exercises that require the ends of the arms to be relatively close together and at about waist height (such as a typical rowing movement) the distance between the user and the machine will be equal to the length of the arms.
The shortcomings of the described adjustment method are that three dimensional changes in the position of the very long arms require a lot of extra space, which is often not available. Three dimensional adjustments can be confusing, awkward and can intimidate new users or potential buyers. Creating new positions for exercise using three dimensional systems require adjustments at four locations, two for changing the height and two for changing the width of the arms which can be complicated and time consuming, especially for multiple consecutive users of different sizes (height).
The use of the bench with three dimensional arm positioning method requires changes of the bench position almost with every new arm location. Repositioning of the bench involves multiple lifting and can be time consuming and tiring.
Another method of adjusting components of the exercise machine to create new positions for exercise is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,430 B1, which shows the machine having two weight stacks, a pair of carriages mounted on the frame and adopted to be adjusted to different heights and pulley blocks on the carriages. Each of the pulley blocks are free to pivot about two axis of rotation so that the pulley blocks can follow the cables and remain aligned with the cables regardless of the direction in which the cables are pulled. The shortcomings of the machine described above are that the system is using complicated three dimensional adjustments of the arm position. Locations for adjustments are distant from each other and placed on two separate posts, forcing the user to walk between them to complete the desired changes, which can be time consuming. Height adjustment requires changes at two separate locations distant from each other. In order to change the height and the width, the user has to complete a total of four adjustments at two separate locations distant from each other, which is complicated and time consuming. The machine has a large structure because it uses two posts for height adjustment and two separate weight stacks, which greatly adds to the weight of the entire assembly. Carriages are heavy to handle and placing them at the highest level is difficult because adjustment points are above the head of the average size user.
The arms of this machine swing in a horizontal plane, and because of that the maximum available height for exercise is limited by the height of the posts with the sliding carriages. Despite that the machine is built very tall, even at the highest position of the carriages, the highest position for exercise is at face level for the average sized user.
The machine is equipped with a dip bar and a chin up bar, but because they are installed at a fixed height they might be difficult to use for a below average size user. They provide only one fixed resistance equal to the body weight of the user, which might not be suitable for many beginner or intermediate level exercisers. Similar methods of adjustments as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,430 may be seen in machines like Body-Solid Functional Training Centre GDCC200, Northern Lights Functional Trainer, Pacific Fitness 3.23 Functional Trainer, Torque Fitness F5 and Life Fitness FSDAP.
Up to this time, there have been some attempts of combining machines that provide many exercise options by using the adjustability of their components with bench exercises. Combinations like this can provide exercises with more resistance from different locations and directions with user defined paths of exercise movements. Some machines have even added body weight exercises using dip bars, and/or a chin-up bar.
Examples of machines that combine a functional trainer with the use of a bench are for example Bowflex Revolution that provides machine with two arms that can rotate 180 degrees about a horizontal axis mounted at a fixed level behind a multi functional and adjustable exercise bench. Nordic Track® PT3 and Nordic Track® 360° Home Gym uses the same principals for arm adjustments like Bowflex Revolution but have higher mounted and longer arms and have a removable seat instead of a fold up bench.
Other examples are Body Craft mini/XPress and Body Craft XPress Pro which consist of two arms that can rotate 180 degrees and are mounted behind a seated exercise bench. Arms are much shorter (than Bowflex Revolution and PT3) and are located at a lower level. All of them use similar arm adjustment methods which does not provide positions for exercises that require starting points inside of the circle described by the ends of the arms. Specifically, the only available positions for exercise are located on the circumference of that circle. Therefore, the major shortcoming of these machines is the limitations on the positions that their arms can take. More specifically, they are not suitable for exercises that require narrow grip at about waist height for the exerciser (such as typical rowing movement). Also, the machines are relatively low for many standing exercises and because the arms are configured too close to the front of the machine there is not enough space for exercises that require pure vertical resistance. Despite that the bench folds up for storage it prevents the user from performing many user defined exercises, or these exercises must be done in awkward body positions.
Because their arms rotate generally in vertical plane, they do not provide enough room for exercises that require pure vertical resistance (squats, military press). In order to utilize those exercises, extra floor pulleys need to be used, or exercisers have to adjust their body positions to align with the angle of the cable.
Another shortcoming of these machines is that they do not economically use the length of the cable. This is mainly because the starting positions of many exercises that are often distant from the ends of the arms. Available cable length is reduced by the distance between the starting position for exercise and the ends of the arms.
The presence of the bench during exercises that do not require the use of the bench prohibits many exercises and many of them have to be performed in awkward positions. The removable seat of the PT3 machine does not provide enough adjustability. The arms of Body Craft mini/XPress do not provide for high pulley exercise and due to this, additional lat pull down assembly had to be added.
Body weight exercises are very popular, effective and are often recommended as an additional variation in anybody's workout routine. Prior art machines have been designed in the past that incorporate dip bars and chin up bars as sub-assemblies built into a main structure of a multi-purpose exercise machine. Usually they are built as an addition to the entire structure or in the form of a fold up design.
Shortcomings of such an arrangement are that it increases the size and the cost of the unit, beside that, most of the prior art dip bars and chin up bar assemblies are installed at fixed heights and they might be difficult to use for a below average size user. Also, they provide one fixed resistance equal to the body weight of the user which might not be suitable for many beginner or intermediate level exercises.